The Obama admin is delaying the Keystone XL review process through the election. Yes, again.

posted at 4:01 pm on April 18, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

The déjà vu is smacking me in the face right now. Just take a quick gander at this NYT piece from November of 2011, and then soak in the similarities of the latest from Time:

The State Department said Friday that while the public comment period will not be extended, executive agencies need more time to review the submitted comments as well as consider a Nebraska court case surrounding the pipeline. The indefinite extension could put off a decision on the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canadian tar sands to American refineries, until after November’s midterm elections.

“On April 18, 2014, the Department of State notified the eight federal agencies specified in Executive Order 13337 we will provide more time for the submission of their views on the proposed Keystone Pipeline Project,” the department said in a statement. “Agencies need additional time based on the uncertainty created by the on-going litigation in the Nebraska Supreme Court which could ultimately affect the pipeline route in that state. In addition, during this time we will review and appropriately consider the unprecedented number of new public comments, approximately 2.5 million, received during the public comment period that closed on March 7, 2014.

“The Permit process will conclude once factors that have a significant impact on determining the national interest of the proposed project have been evaluated and appropriately reflected in the decision documents,” the State Department statement continued. “The Department will give the agencies sufficient time to submit their views.”

Which is to say, “the Permit process will conclude” whenever we damn well please.

Back in February, a judge in Nebraska ruled that the administrative channels through which the state had completed its own environmental impact report (which concluded that the pipeline would pose “minimal” risks to Nebraska’s environment, by the way) and subsequently approved the pipeline were void, due to a relatively recent law change that meant the pipeline’s final approving authority should have rested with the Nebraska Public Service Commission rather than the governor. The judge was careful to note that the decision had “nothing to do with the merits” of the pipeline, but was rather a state constitutional matter. The Obama administration is essentially using the issue to excuse punting the pipeline past yet another clutch election — but what in the world an internal dispute in Nebraska has to do with the State Department’s umpteenth review of whether the pipeline is of a net national benefit… has not yet been sufficiently explained to us.

Since Obama reportedly told a group of bipartisan governors he’d be making a decision within a few months in February, I’ve been leaning toward the theory that President Obama will wring every last possible Democratic donation dollar out of the wealthy, Manhattan-and-California-based, Tom Steyer-ish green aristocratic set before finally approving the pipeline shortly before the election — the better to provide a last-minute lift to vulnerable red-state Democrats like Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana — but it sounds like I spoke way too soon. Approving the pipeline would indeed infuriate the aforementioned radical eco-contingent; they may be few, but they are well-monied and their useful-idiot followers are obnoxiously energized. No need to risk that kind of concentrated backlash, and of course, abiding by their wishes and rejecting the pipeline could be directly harmful for those vulnerable Dems (since, you know, almost two-thirds of America approves of the project, no big deal or anything).

Nope — the most politically pusillanimous course of continued delay could very well mean the least net damage for the White House here, so why not just keep making up convenient excuses as they go along and telling Canada to go jump in a lake? I suppose that when Obama told those governors he’d be making a decision “one way or the other in a couple of months,” he was just casually, carelessly, dishonestly putting them off, too — just like the rest of us.

Blowback

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The doomsayers are doing it all, blocking critical energy pipelines, for global warming. But check out the graph (showing cooling this century) at this Steven Goddard post: Global Warming – Without The Warming Part. I left this comment at the Goddard link:

lack of warming is not proof of warming

That sounds self-evident, right? It shouldn’t take an Einstein. Or a rocket scientist. Maybe a climate scientist, though. Ok, what about cooling, not a lack of warming, but actual cooling, does cooling prove warming? No. Well then, what about super cooling? I mean, what if it’s really super duper freezing, does freezing prove warming? Actually, according to climate scientists, yes.

I’ve found that I like the skeptic blog of commenter Wagathon, and here’s an excerpt from one of his recent posts: [speaking about educational indoctrination] If you want to know if your child is getting a proper education, ask the teachers in the local school if the coldest winter in Chicago history is proof of global warming. Where do you move when they say, Yes! Their ‘yes’ vote means that educators in your school believe in the subjective element over the objective — that the role of instinct trumps scientific practice. Their ‘yes’ vote means science is dead because, as Dr. Roger A. Pielke, Sr., reminds us, Science needs to advance by following the scientific method. This needs to be independent of culture or any other external influence.

Why does the Left hamstring homegrown productivity and self-sufficiency at every turn and purposefully expose the economy to the artificial shortages and vagaries in the prices of conflict minerals? The answer is pretty simple: they are Marxists and want to see Americanism destroyed. The Left and the right can never have a reasoned discussion about AGW theory because the Left’s infatuation with global warming has nothing to do with science; for the Left it’s all about its value as a tool for social change.

I disagree. This was true in the beginning back in the Seventies, when they were warning of a “New Ice Age”, but not any more.

I think the Marxists have given way to the genuine primitivists. They’ve already fundamentally destroyed “Americanism”. But even that isn’t enough to sate their appetite for power and Utopia.

I believe the reins are now in the hands of the mystics, who seek to destroy civilization itself so they can replace it either with an agrarian-socialist, feudal-primitivist state, or nothing at all.

Some of them want to be the nobles in a world with nothing more complex than a wooden hoe for everyone but themselves. (They will still have their cool tech toys, or so they believe.)

I hope no one on here actually thought he would approve Keystone before the election.

Johnnyreb on April 18, 2014 at 4:10 PM

By and large, the HA crowd is smarter than that. The lazy stupid filthy rat-eared tyrant is already walking on eggshells with the tree huggers for not flat-out killing the project. There is no way that he is going to make them mad before the next election.

What really pisses me off about this story is that Obama is holding jobs and increased prosperity hostage so as not to annoy greenies with deep pockets. The Dems even sold out the Senate floor for one of these domestic terrorists with money.

So what’s at the top of the agenda for the establishment GOP and US Chamber of Commerce? Not the XL Pipeline, not the costs of Obamacare, not the creation of jobs……… NO! They’ve made amnesty for illegals the top issue!

Cavuto is making a related point right now. That number that the filthy lazy stupid rat-eared bastard is throwing out about Obamacare enrollees? It includes todlers in the under-35 crowd that is essential for funding success. Yeah, unless these kids have a wallet in their diapers, it’s yet another lie from Obama.

“Primitivists” is an excellent term. Quotes:
“We have wished, we ecofreaks, for a disaster… to bomb us into the stone age, where we might live like Indians, with our localism, our appropriate technology, our gardens, our homemade religion, guilt free at last.” -Stewart Brand, Whole Earth Catalogue
“If we don’t overthrow capitalism, we don’t have a chance of saving the world ecologically.” -Judi Bari, Earth First
“A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the United States… [we] must design a stable, low-consumption economy.” -John Holdren, Obama’s “Science” Czar [Holdren said this in 1973, way before the global warming scare, in fact Holdren was pushing global cooling at the time: http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/08/flashback-john-holdren-in-1971-new-ice-age-likely/ ]
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” -Marice Strong, ex UNEP Director [and arguably the founder of the ipcc, and main engineer of the global warming scare]
“Chief executives of large fossil fuel companies [should] be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature.” -James Hansen, Chief Scientist at NASA

I think the ship has sailed on that one. Nothing but China slowdown articles on Zerohedge.

platypus on April 18, 2014 at 4:15 PM

Yes, but a slowdown doesn’t mean they don’t/won’t need oil. And it will take a couple years to get the OTHER pipeline built west over the Canadian Rockies. (And yes, the Canadians do have their own opposition struggle to that one so it isn’t a forgone conclusion.)

What a waste of 8yrs in US history….
hillsoftx on April 18, 2014 at 4:10

Not a waste. We are either going to slide forever down the progressive rabbit hole, or doom progressivism to the scrap heap of American history in 2016. I hope for the latter, but fully expect the former.

I don’t understand why Barry thinks his drooling, moron voters care about this pipeline. Whether he approves it or not, those idiots will vote for whoever the DNC bus driver gives them $20 to vote for. It’s not as though they have even the most basic understanding of current events. They can barely flip the switch on their fatty scooter to reup their EBT card.

Well, BHO had to do something to stir up his base, and the waronwomen and minimum wage cards kinda fizzled. He needed something that would stir up the OWS types, the ones who really COMMIT to the cause. If anything gets those wackos going, it’s this.

I suppose that when Obama told those governors he’d be making a decision “one way or the other in a couple of months,” he was just casually, carelessly, dishonestly putting them off, too — just like the rest of us.

Screw Keystone, we will not want this $70/bbl minimum crude if crude prices fall. This stuff has been available since the 60s, but it has only been economic since crude prices have stayed above $70. Once we start drilling in the Gulf and other places, the price of crude will fall and no one will want this stuff — again. I was at Amoco/BP during the 70s/80s and we worked trying to figure out how to get this stuff out of the ground and make money — no luck.

What we do need is a pipeline from ND to Philadelphia, PA to deliver ND crude to the rust belt states. Now trains do it — dangerously. The Keystone pipeline is a ploy not to just bring in Canadian crude, but suck up ND crude and put all the small refiners in the rust belt states out of business by “stealing” their feed stock. (The folks at the end of a pipeline can pay a lot more for the crude than those at the end of a train line because of the transportation cost diff.)

This is from another article on HA that I commented on:
It is beyond absurdity that the Keystone Pipeline has not been approved years ago. We continue to purchase oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, who use our dollars for support of Muslim terrorists, and Venezuela, who use our dollars to subjecate the masses under a communist regime. Why????? Instead we should be buying oil from Canada, our long time friend and ally. There is no common sense in government anymore.
The eco-nazis who oppose this pipeline do not have any semblance of a credible argument. Their premise that it will increase global warming is laughable: 1. There is no global warming, I believe that due to the sun’s cycles we are entering a cooling trend. 2. Building the pipeline will actually DECREASE CO2 emissions by eliminating the ground transportation by rail or truck that is currently taking place. 3. The argument that it will ruin tribal lands is moot since the development of the lands will happen whether the pipeline is built or not. If not, there is contingency plans to build a pipeline to the west coast and ship the oil to China.
There is no viable reason not to approve the Keystone Pipeline. Why is this idiot in the White Palace delaying? I think most of the readers of HA already know the answer.

Screw Keystone, we will not want this $70/bbl minimum crude if crude prices fall. This stuff has been available since the 60s, but it has only been economic since crude prices have stayed above $70. Once we start drilling in the Gulf and other places, the price of crude will fall and no one will want this stuff — again. I was at Amoco/BP during the 70s/80s and we worked trying to figure out how to get this stuff out of the ground and make money — no luck.

What we do need is a pipeline from ND to Philadelphia, PA to deliver ND crude to the rust belt states. Now trains do it — dangerously. The Keystone pipeline is a ploy not to just bring in Canadian crude, but suck up ND crude and put all the small refiners in the rust belt states out of business by “stealing” their feed stock. (The folks at the end of a pipeline can pay a lot more for the crude than those at the end of a train line because of the transportation cost diff.)

KenInIL on April 18, 2014 at 5:59 PM

But then how will the slovenly Warren Buffett continue to fill his coffers with cash to donate to Democratic Party causes?

Put a refinery in Minnesota just across the boarder, ship the products down the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf, what’s left of the products. Why pipe it all the way to the west coast and then refine it?

That there’s a multi-billion dollar proposition with its own long list of Democratic-controlled federal and state government agencies that would have to approve it and a dozen courts that could block it.

Put a refinery in Minnesota just across the boarder, ship the products down the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf, what’s left of the products. Why pipe it all the way to the west coast and then refine it?

mixplix on April 18, 2014 at 8:09 PM

Yeah, let’s put refined oil products (i.e., gasoline) on a boat, float it down a river that is teeming with wildlife and people.

17 yeas of flat global temperatures and the AGW cult knows they have lost this war that they created based on lies. Obama must now know it too but can’t say it publically or lose the Green Leftists for his party.

This is just a way he can save face while continuing to hurt the economy.

Actually the Koch brothers have a refinery in MN that supplies products to the upper Midwest that uses tar sands crude — and the pipeline to it its being expanded as it is being “refurbished”. They also pipe the tar sands crude to southern IL and the BP Whiting,IN refinery near Chgo.

Buying oil from us not only helps Canada, your closest ally, but it is of more benefit for you, since we are already your biggest trading partner, and a lot of the money goes right back to America, unlike the Arabs who spend most of their profits on European goods.

I am tired of Obama doing everything he can to sabotage your economy. Can’t anyone speak any sense to him?

Decision needs to be made on the merits of the project. That would be doing the “Peoples Work” for “We The People”. This decision only shows that the Government works only for the “Party” in the majority, only to befit and stay in the majority.

All people need to show zero tolerance for such action at all times and on all levels. These people are elected and paid to make decisions. For “We The People” not just for their political party. They must be removed from their positions of trust and never tolerated again.

I think the Marxists have given way to the genuine primitivists. They’ve already fundamentally destroyed “Americanism”. But even that isn’t enough to sate their appetite for power and Utopia.

I believe the reins are now in the hands of the mystics, who seek to destroy civilization itself so they can replace it either with an agrarian-socialist, feudal-primitivist state, or nothing at all.

Some of them want to be the nobles in a world with nothing more complex than a wooden hoe for everyone but themselves. (They will still have their cool tech toys, or so they believe.)

But more and more of them want a world sans humans. Period.

clear ether

eon

eon on April 18, 2014 at 4:25 PM

I think Eon is exactly right. You read their writings, you listen to their talk, and that’s exactly what they want: an Earth with no humans. They have internalized the idea that humans are the cause of all evil in the world and that without humans, Mother Gaia will throw off all her troubles, her powers will surge and Earth will become Paradise.

What’s really going on here is another Ocrat taxpayer laundering scheme with the Greens ending up with dough to spend on 2014 politics… (Liberal judges) Courts will typically award money, win or lose, to the greens that bring cases to be reviewed…

Never mind all the money prosperous activity and lower energy costs that is being lost by all this nonsense delays… The court’s aren’t about promoting the general welfare, they are about promoting special interest green politics (win or lose)…